Virtual Reality Storytelling

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Abstract

The Green Fairy 1.0 is a practice-led research project that explores practical strategies for effective storytelling in virtual reality. It consists on producing a shortfilm for Virtual Reality with techniques found in the roots of storytelling. For the production of this project, game development techniques have been complemented by traditional storytelling techniques from other platforms such as oral storytelling, cinema and theatre.

Up until recent years, VR (Virtual Reality) has been predominantly been used for games, simulations and military training. Since 2015 it began to grab the experimental interest of content creators wanting to tell stories in this medium. The production of this project took place at the end of 2015 and throughout 2016 without much support from existing Virtual Reality Storytelling work that has been released later in 2016. This meant taking an approach that focused on the craft of storytelling, more than the technology itself, therefore this research has its focus on keeping things simple and using VR to tell a story with a storyteller.

Storytelling techniques developed thus far for other storytelling platforms such as film, TV, radio, novels, theatre, etc do not necessarily apply for Virtual Reality. Forcing some of these techniques onto VR can create motion sickness, disorientation, missing the plotline amongst other issues. This research aims to introduce strategies and techniques that will support the community of content creators that are developing a language of storytelling for VR. The trial and error following the production of this project is documented throughout the exegesis.